The court also asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) not to take any coercive action against the carrier for three weeks, people aware of the matter said.

NEW DELHI: The Madras High Court has dismissed Vodafone India’s plea challenging the telecom regulator’s mandatory listing of tariffs on its website, including segmented offers, and told the country’s second-largest telco to approach the telecom tribunal instead.

The court also asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) not to take any coercive action against the carrier for three weeks, people aware of the matter said.

“On ground of alternate remedy, Madras High Court has directed VIL (Vodafone India) to approach TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal),” one of the people said. “Three weeks’ protection has been given from any coercive steps from Trai.”

Trai had argued that the high court was not the right forum for Vodafone to appeal against its move, which was part of a larger order on predatory tariffs issued on February 16.

Vodafone did not respond to ET’s queries on the matter as of press time on Monday.

TDSAT — where other incumbents Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have challenged Trai’s new tariff order alleging it favours new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm — has already stayed the order in an interim ruling.

This relief was critical to incumbent telcos’ efforts to fight off Jio’s attempts to poach their subscribers.

The high court bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose, too, had in an interim order in March told Trai not to take any coercive or penal action against Vodafone, and stayed the regulator’s demand that the carrier put all its tariff plans on the website, including those offered to retain individual customers.

The interim order had allowed the carrier to give segmented offers to specific subscribers who it wants to retain, without offering that plan to other users, till the case is settled.

Trai’s latest tariff order — notified on February 16 — changed the method for identifying what was a predatory offer and altered the definition of significant market power (SMP), giving pricing flexibility only to operators with less than 30% of the market’s subscribers or revenue, while scrapping volume of traffic and network capacity as criterion. The order also barred telcos from offering customised offers to specific subscribers, and mandated them to make public all plans, in the interests of transparency.

Airtel, Idea and Vodafone said the order, including on SMP and reporting of segmented offers, violate their right to conduct business.

They also alleged that the new rules favour Jio.

Vodafone, in fact, also sought an injunction on the direction given by Trai in a March 7 letter, asking the carrier to display all the tariff plans it offers to consumers on its website, including those offered to individuals. This part was stayed by the

Madras HC in its interim order. The telco would now have to approach TDSAT. But it may decide against that because Airtel and Idea have already challenged Trai’s tariff order before the tribunal, said a person familiar with the matter.

TDSAT, which has yet to take a final call on the matter, has barred the watchdog from imposing any penalty on telcos for violating the tariff order. It is set to hear this matter on July 9.

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